Page 68 of Misunderstood: In Love with the Nerd (Miss 2)

Chapter 12

On Monday night, Robert Alto made an appearance as promised. With just the minimal clientele Sonya performed her best. Another man and a woman accompanied him and they selected a table near the back of the bar. Her voice was in perfect pitch that evening and she gave one of the best performances she had in a long time. Even Tristan had come out of his office to listen.

She was on cloud nine and was excited about the notable patron whose only reason for being there was to hear her sing. However, Sonya couldn’t ignore the fact that her excitement was rather forced. It didn’t have the kind of natural happiness and excitement she would have imagined.

Her eyes explored the bar and found herself wishing, not for the first time that evening, that Daniel was there for moral support. She didn’t need him, was what she continued to tell herself; it would just have been nice to have him there.

However, after their night of lovemaking she shouldn’t have been surprised he was nowhere to be seen. She made it very clear that they were to go their separate ways. Since then he rarely spoke to her. They passed each other in the hall the few times and he always acknowledged her with a friendly greeting, but that was it. It was obvious he was mad. Or uninterested. She wasn’t sure which was worst.

But tonight was important. Couldn’t he have put aside his pride and make an appearance? It was, after all, his doing that she was getting this chance. He above anyone else she wanted to share it with.

She went through the routine of belting out the lyrics to her songs and made sure she gave nothing less than what she was capable. It was during her break that Robert Alto approached her.

“Very nice performance.” He smiled with politeness. “I see Daniel was right. You do have a natural talent.”

Her hand stilled as she raised a bottle of water to her lips. Daniel said? She shook her head at her own stupidity. Of course he would. He was, after all, the sweetest guy on earth. She didn’t think he had a single bad thing to sa

y about anyone.

“Thank you.”

“I tell you what.” He reached inside to the breast pocket of his blazer and retracted a small business card. “I want you to give this man a call.”

She took the card from his hand and read the name. Her eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets. “This is—this is—”

Robert Alto grinned and nodded his head. “Tell him I sent you.”

“But he only manages famous singers.” She stared dumbfounded at the man.

He nodded. “And he does a damn good job. There isn’t a manager better I prefer to work with.”

Sonya blinked and looked down at the card once more then back at the record company executive. “Thank you.”

Smiling, he held out his hand. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon.”

After that, the day seemed to pass in a daze. It all seemed so surreal. Her disbelief began to slowly turn into genuine happiness. She couldn’t wait for her shift to end fast enough. All she wanted to do was rush home and share her exciting news. A flicker of disappointment nagged her conscience. There was nobody waiting for her at home and since Daniel seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder, she couldn’t even share her news with him.

Finally, at six o’clock she punched out and hurried to her little car in the back lot. She couldn’t explain the rush. She simply wanted to get home.

Traffic was thick and lights seemed to be taking longer to turn color as she made her way through the city until at last she pulled into her apartment’s parking spot. She leaped out of her vehicle and shot an automatic glance over at Daniel’s spot and noticed it empty. A feeling of disappointment made her shoulders droop.

Nevertheless, as she hurried down the building corridor to her apartment she made a quick dash to his door and rapped swiftly three times. It did not surprise her when she received no response. Sighing, she turned toward her door and consoled herself with the reassurance that he would be home shortly. Probably held up at the Institute. She knew from recent conversation that they were having problems with a certain database and were unable to run one of their nightly batches accurately.

She really hadn’t a clue what any of that meant, but she surprised herself by recalling this bit of information and that she actually retained it.

Inside her kitchenette, she swung open the pantry door and pulled down a bottle of wine from the wine rack. Just because there was no one around to celebrate with, didn’t mean she should pass an opportunity to rejoice. This was after all big news for Sonya. He should be there.

She shook herself out of a bout of self-pity and poured the bottle into the wineglass then walked over to the window overlooking the parking lot. His spot still remained empty.

She took a swig of the drink then slid over to the portable stereo and put Tchaikovsky into the CD player. As the classical music filled her apartment, she listened while a smile played upon her lips. Daniel liked Tchaikovsky.

Damn, she had to stop thinking like that. Hell, lots of people liked Tchaikovsky. With a frustrated flick, she shut the machine off. From a drawer she uncovered a lighter and lit some candles. They were nearly burned down to their wick and would soon need to be replaced. Maybe next time she would select temptation or devotion.

Her stomach growled and reminded her that she ought to get some supper in her stomach. On her way back to the kitchenette she stopped by the window once more and looked out. Still no Daniel.

The feeling of disappointment was giving way to sadness and Sonya resented the emotion. Today was a monumental step in her career and there was no way she was going to feel bad. Celebration and joy were the order of the day and she rightly deserved it. How many other wannabe singers have a huge record company executive come and listen to them perform. Next to none.

Sonya fingered the lacy curtain and wistfully thanked Daniel once more. If it hadn’t been for him, she would never have gotten this chance. He hadn’t even bothered coming. Didn’t he know how big this was? Didn’t he know how important this was to her? Their night of lovemaking should have made her gratitude clear.

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